Marcia I rolled my eyes
by gloryblastit
Summary: Just a look at how Marcia perceived their night at the drive in movie
1. Default Chapter

I rolled my eyes, but inside. Outwardly I calmly looked on.  
"I told you, Bob! I'm not staying with you if you're drinking!"  
Cherry's face was nearly as red as her hair. Everything had to be so dramatic with her. Bob's mouth hung open comically and he clutched his ever present flask of whiskey. Randy's confusion was beginning to give way to anger and he looked at me. I calmly looked away.  
Truth is, I'd been getting a little sick of Randy lately.  
"C'mon, Marcia, let's go," Cherry flounced off, not waiting to see if I'd follow her. Of course I would, she was CHERRY VALANCE, head cheerleader, class president, Bob's girlfriend. I rolled my eyes again and this time, because her back was to me, I really rolled them. Then I ran to catch up with her.  
"You sure this is a good idea?" I said. She was heading for the seats.  
"I said I was coming to see a movie and I'm gonna see one," she said.  
She was heading toward the seats. The greasrs from the east side sat there. Let me explain a bit. Our city was fairly divided by social class. Cherry, Bob, Randy, and I were from the west side. Rich.  
But the east side boys. They were wild, dangerous, dark, exciting. They were hoods. And Cherry wanted to go sit right in the middle of them.  
I could feel Bob and Randy scowling at us as we walked toward the seats. Cherry's face was set, determined, it was her principles again. I just thought it would be fun to flirt with the east side boys.  
To be truthful Bob did have a problem with drinking. I didn't mind drinking once in a while but that Bob was a lush! A couple of months ago he'd drank himself into a frenzy and went and beat up one of those poor east side greasers. A small kid, too, 14 or so, and he had been all alone. Bob, Randy, and two others beat him so badly that Randy confessed he thought they'd killed him. He watched the paper for days to be sure there was no dead kid on the east side. Bob barely recalled the incident.  
We sat in the first row and right after we did Dallas Winston sauntered over with two hoods in tow.  
Dallas Winston, Dally, everyone knows him. He used to live in New York City and he was a hardened criminal at 17. He just got out of jail.  
He and his two friends sat right behind us.  
They started talking dirty, well, actually, Dally started talking dirty. The other two, who looked substantialy sweeter than Dallas Winston, turned red and told him to cut it out.  
He didn't listen and started talking even dirtier. Cherry stiffened as he leaned close to her and fingered her hair.  
She liked it, though, of course. Bob is just as much of a jerk as Dallas Winston. Cherry likes jerks.  
I eyed the other two. They looked to be a lot younger than Dallas. They must be tough to be hanging out with the likes of him.  
The one sitting next to Dally was a real cutie. Long reddish hair slicked back, big green eyes. Everytime Dallas said something off color to Cherry he looked at him with sharp annoyance and would snap, "C'mon, Dally,".  
The one next to him was also cute. Black hair that was greased so heavily it gleamed in the flickering light of the movie screen. He had big dark eyes that darted fearfully to Dallas when he said things to Cherry and he too would say, "Cut it out, Dal,".  
Dallas got worse and worse. Cherry was snapping her gum and I could tell she was about to tell him off.  
"I'm going to get a coke," the dark haired kid said and got up quickly.  
"Why don't you leave us alone, be nice and leave us alone?" Cherry said. Us. Huh. He was only talking to her. The kid with the reddish hair was looking at Dallas, a thoughtful and worried look on his face.  
"I'm never nice," he said, and leaned close to her, whispered something in her ear.  
"Get lost, hood!" Cherry screamed at him. I smiled a little. It amused me to see Cherry so ruffled.  
"O.K., fine. I know when I'm not wanted," He got up and stalked off. Cherry turned around quick and glared at the kid.  
"Are you gonna start in on us, too?"  
"No," he said calmly, quietly, looking right into her eyes.  
"You don't look the type," she said, smiling softly, "what's your name?"  
"Ponyboy Curtis," Curtis. I immediately thought of Sodapop Curtis, my God that boy was to die for. Bleached blond hair and dark eyes and this look he had, like a movie star or something. He worked at the DX that all the girls flocked to. And he was so friendly, so magnetic . Ponyboy. What a weird name, like Sodapop. He had to be his brother. I had to ask.  
"Your brother Sodapop, he works at a DX, I think,"  
"Yeah," He ducked his head and said it softly. Poor kid, that Sodapop must always get all of the attention.  
"I should have guessed you were brothers, he's a doll," He blushed a little and I smiled.  
"How come we don't see him around school anymore, he's what, 16?" I said, this just occurring to me. Of course I didn't have any classes with him because I was in the college prep courses but I used to see him in the halls.  
"He's a drop out," Ponyboy said, and I saw a look of shame on his face. Just then the other kid came back, sucking on the straw to his soda. He glanced around nervously, probably looking for Dally.  
"Hi," he said so shyly I almost giggled. He was a nervous kid, that one. His shoulders were tensed up and his eyes were round, darting from Ponyboy to us to the movie screen and back.  
Dallas came back with an armful of cokes and handed one to each of us except  
  
the dark haired kid, who had one already. I thanked him softly but I don't think he heard me. He wasn't interested in me. Everyone's always all over Cherry like flies on shit. I knew how Ponyboy must feel with his brother.  
"Here, I thought this might cool you off," He said to her as he sat down next to her. She looked at the coke in her hand and then threw it in his face. Cola dripped down his face and his tongue licked it slowly from his lips in an oddly seductive way.  
"Maybe this will cool you off! Once you learn to talk and act decent I might cool off, too!" She screamed again, that girl was always screaming. I rolled my eyes. Ponyboy and the other kid watched with wide eyes.  
"Firey, huh?" Dallas said, leering, putting his arm around her and leaning toward her, "that's the way I like 'em," He started to kiss her and grope her and we were at the movies! A public place! What was he gonna do, attack her in front of everyone?  
"Leave her alone, Dal," The dark haired kid had stood up and put his arm between Dallas and Cherry. I'd only been near this kid for about a half an hour but I could tell that this was out of character for him. Ponyboy was starring at him as though he had grown two heads.  
"What?" Dallas said sharply, his eyes narrowed in anger, "What did you say to me, you little shit?"  
"You heard me, leave her alone," He didn't back down against the toughest kid in the whole city. We all looked at him in awe.  
"Punk," Dallas growled but he stopped, stood up nearly knocking his chair over, and left. Ponyboy's mouth was open in frank astonishment.  
"Thanks, he had me scared to death!" Cherry said, but she didn't look scared to death. She looked like she was having fun.  
"You sure didn't show it. Nobody talks to Dal like that," he said.  
"From what I saw you do," Cherry always had sassy little comebacks like that. It grated on my nerves a bit. The kid looked kind of sad when she said that. Funny.  
"Why don't you two sit up here with us, you can protect us," I said, smiling, batting my eyes at the dark haired kid. He smiled a crooked smile at Ponyboy and said, "what do you think, man?" That Ponyboy was cool. He shrugged and said, "Might as well,"  
They sat with us. They looked young.  
"How old are y'all?" I said.  
"14," Ponyboy said slowly. The other kid answered fast so maybe we wouldn't jump to the wrong conclusion, "16," I was kind of in that mood to tease them,they were so cute.  
"That's funny, " I said, "I thought you were both fourte" I started to say 14 but Cherry cut me off, "16," she said.  
"How come y'all aren't scared o f us like you were Dallas?" the dark haired one said. Cherry explained, they didn't join in the dirty talk and all that. Well, they didn't have to. Dallas did admirably all by himself.  
"He's a cool old guy once you get to know him," he said. I'd heard that about the east side kids, they're loyal to each other. I kind of envied that. If Cherry was being rude like that I wouldn't be sitting here defending her.  
"Well, I'm glad he doesn't know us," I said, and then we were quite for a bit, watching the movie.  
"All right, greasers, you've had it!" A deep voice said from behind the two boys. My heart started hammering, Bob sent one of his lackeys over here to beat them up and haul us back. I turned and laughed, it was obviously one of their friends, a smiling guy with greased light brown hair and Elvis sideburns. He had a hand on each of them.  
"Glory, Two bit, scare us to death!" Ponyboy said, laughing. The other kid wasn't laughing. His eyes were shut and he was barely breathing. Then he opened his eyes, "Hey, Two bit," he said in a shaky voice.  
"Sorry, kid, I forgot," Two bit said, ruffling his hair. He handed him a beer in a brown paper wrapping, "have a beer, it'll settle your nerves," The kid held the beer awkwardly.  
Two bit shifted his attention to me and Cherry.  
"What's two classy girls like you doing with two greasy hoods like Pony and Johnny?" He said. Cherry looked wary but I smiled my wide smile.  
"Actually, we picked them up. We're really Arabian slave traders and their worth two camels a piece," I said. Now Cherry rolled her eyes. She never liked my sense of humor. Two bit laughed, and I liked him immediately. I wanted to stick my tongue out at Cherry but somehow didn't dare.  
"Naw," he said, laughing, "they don't speak Arabian, I don't think. Their worth only one camel. Say something in Arabian, Johnnycake?"  
"Aw, cut it out!" Johnny said, and he looked a little mad, "Dally was bothering them and when he left they asked us to sit up with them to protect them, against wisecracking greasers like you, probably,"  
"Speaking of Dally..." Two bit said how someone was looking for Dally because he slashed their tires. That's not surprising. Dallas was trouble.  
"Ponyboy," Cherry said quickly, standing up, "come with me to get popcorn and soda," He stood up obediantly. Most people obeyed Cherry. It made my raw nerves sing.  
We watched them go into the little snack booth. The line was outside, they'd be awhile.  
"Hey, can I have this?" I reached for the beer Johnny held. He sure wasn't going to drink it. He barely nodded and I took it from him and swigged it. No wonder Bob drank with Cherry and her damn drama.  
Johnny just watched the movie and didn't say anything.  
"So, Dally was bothering you, huh?" Two bit said, leaning close to me. He was in the seat behind me. I shrugged, he hadn't been bothering me. Johnny glanced at us and finished his soda. I finished the beer and felt a little better, a little less aggravated with her highness, miss Cherry.  
"Hey, got a cigarrette?" I said. Both boys dug in their pockets for one. Two bit had offerred cigarrettes before but with Cherry starring at me I felt like I couldn't have one. Forget that. I'd do what I wanted whether she approved or not. Johnny handed me one and Two bit lit it, just like Carey Grant in the movies. I giggled.  
I could still see Cherry and Ponyboy waiting in line outside the snack stand.  
Two bit joked and teased in a steady stream of words . It got so that I couldn't stop laughing. Even Johnny laughed a little. I liked these two, they weren't snotty and too cool like Bob and Randy, afraid to let down their guard. But I was a little wary of them, not really nervous but just aware of things. Aware of the bad neighborhood they lived in, not like my neighborhood with the manicured lawns and winding driveways and guest houses. On a lark we'd driven through the east side neighborhoods. I'd seen the junk on the porches, the rotting shingles, plastic toys littering yards. It was just different, more visceral in a way.  
Two bit got to the punch line of an elaborate joke he'd been telling and I literally could not breathe, it was so funny. In the distance I saw Cherry and Ponyboy returning with their arms filled with the snacks.  
"Hey, Marcia," Two bit said close to my ear, "I'd like to have your phone number," I gave it to him, smiling at how that would bug Randy and probably Cherry, too. 


	2. ch 2

A/N: Thank you very much for the reviews. I always got the sense from reading the book that Marcia was a little jealous of Cherry and maybe annoyed with her, too.  
  
We had the popcorn and soda that Cherry and Ponyboy brought back. Two bit produced another beer from inside his coat and we shared that. Cherry looked at me with that look, as if to say, "What are you doing?" After a beer and a half I was brave enough to really stick my tongue out at her. She turned away from me and started focusing all her attention on Ponyboy. That was fine with me.  
When the movie was done we realized we had no way to get home.  
"I'll walk you home," Two bit said and I smiled and took a drag on his cigarette. Cherry shook her head no.  
"We'll call our parents," she said, speaking for me. I narrowed my eyes at her a bit.  
"Two bit, is your car working?" Johnny said. I thought it was the first thing he's said since Two bit first showed up. Two bit's eyes lit up and he smiled at me.  
"Yeah, Steve just fixed it the other day! My house is only ten minutes from here, I'll drive you home," I agreed to that but Cherry looked doubtful.  
"I don't know..." she said, chewing on the nail of her pinky. Ponyboy was looking at her in a pleading way. I knew that if I tried to convince her to go with them she'd say no immediately. The only one who could probably convince her would be Ponyboy.  
"O.k.?" He said softly. She debated it for a minute and agreed.  
I walked with Two bit. He joked and commented on the things we passed. I joked back with him. Unlike some people he thought I was funny. I hoped he would call me. My parents would have a fit about that, I could hear them now. A boy from the east side, they'd say. A hoodlum? And they'd say I couldn't go anywhere with him. But they didn't have to know.  
  
Cherry and Ponyboy lagged behind, probably engaged in some deep conversation that Cherry was famous for.  
From the corner of my eye I saw Bob's car. I gasped. Everyone turned and looked at me.  
"Look what's coming," I said. We all looked as the car came toward us. I felt nervous all of a sudden, like it wasn't our boyfriends but our parents. Then I was angry. They can't control us, tell us who we can and can't see, damn it. I shifted from one foot to the other and looked at Two bit. He was eyeing the car with sharp anger. Johnny, who was right next to me, swallowed hard and looked pale.  
"What are we going to do?" I said.  
"Stand here. There's not much else we can do," Cherry said, her face set and I suddenly wasn't as annoyed with her as I had been. There was real fear in her eyes because of Bob.  
"Who is it? The FBI?" Two bit said. He still looked mad, his jaw clenched. Cherry looked almost like she could cry. Ponyboy looked vaguelly worried, a little wrinkle in his brow but Johnny was starring at the mustang and barely breathing.  
"No," Cherry said, "Randy and Bob,"  
"And a few others," Two bit said. He was right. They went out and picked up their friends, probably David and Tom. I didn't know Tom too well but David was nice enough. Well, when he's not out beating up kids with Bob. I shook my head.  
"Your boyfriends?" Johnny said in a surprisingly steady voice but he was right next to me and I could almost feel him trembling. My expression darkened. Could Johnny have been the kid they almost killed a couple of months ago?  
"Maybe they won't see us," Cherry said, "act normal,".  
"Who's acting?" Two bit said, "I'm a natural normal,"  
"Wish it was the other way around," Ponyboy said. What a smart ass.  
"Don't get mouthy, Ponyboy," Two bit shot back. The mustang passed us slowly but it kept going. I sighed and said, "that was close,"  
The anger left Two bit's face like it had never been there at all and he grinned and tucked a stray hair behind my ear. I giggled, feeling relief that Randy hadn't spotted us and wrecked everything. I was happy again. I liked Two bit, his gray eyes, his crazy sideburns, even the way he walked with a loping stride.  
I hoped he would kiss me, maybe he would. It was getting colder and I could hear the leaves rustling in the cold wind. Ponyboy had on a sweatshirt with no sleeves and he rubbed his arms to get warm. His voice and Cherry's was a low murmer under the wind.  
Ponyboy's voice got louder and I could see he was upset.  
"He likes Soda, everyone likes Soda, but he can't stand me. I bet he wishes he could stick me in some boys' home somewhere but Soda won't let him..." We all had stopped and starred at him.  
"No, Ponyboy, that ain't right..."Two bit said softly, sounding confused.  
"Gee, Ponyboy, I thought you and Darry and Soda got along real well," Johnny said. Both him and Two bit were looking at Ponyboy with puzzled expressions. Cherry looked sheepish, as if to say, "what did I start?".  
"Well, we don't, and you can just shut your trap, Johnny Cade, cause everyone knows you ain't wanted at home neither! And you can't blame 'em!" Ponyboy practically spat at Johnny. Two bit promptly whacked him in the head, "You watch your mouth," he said.  
They talked some more, fighting, working it out. Cherry and I drifted away from them. I felt uncomfortable, like we were intruding on something private. It was then that Randy and Bob and the other two drove back, more slowly, and stopped right behind us. Bob jumped out with Randy right behind him.  
"Cherry, Marcia, listen to us..."Bob said in his drunken ernest way. His words were slurred around the edges.  
Cherry gave him the same speech she did when we left them at the movies but ending with, "It's me or the booze." I had to roll my eyes. God! I hated when she said stuff like that. My previous annoyance with her returned like a dull throb.  
"Baby, you know we don't get drunk very often..." Randy started, looking at me exactly like he owned me. And baby? He knew I hated to be called that. I looked at him with a cool gaze and didn't say a word.  
"And even if you are mad at us that's no reason to go walking the streets with these bums." I wanted to punch him, his smug face, privileged baby life, smug asshole.  
"Who you callin' bums?" Two bit said, leaning on Johnny. I was a bit startled at how they looked, tough all of a sudden, blank looks on their faces. Hoodlums.  
"Listen, greasers, we got four more of us in the back seat..." Randy shoved me behind him and said that right in Two bit's face. It's supposed to be neat and exciting when boys fight over you but I didn't feel that way. For the first time that night I felt scared.  
"Then pity the back seat," Two bit said, and he looked bored and tough and I wanted to kiss him more than ever. He picked up a bottle and smashed it against the fence. He handed the jagged end of it to Ponyboy, who looked very young and very scared. Then Two bit flipped out his switchblade.  
"Try it, pal,"  
"No!" Cherry screamed. That was it. Cherry hated fights.  
"We'll ride home with you, just wait," she said to Bob. He couldn't even stand up straight and he smiled at her like some sleazy salesman and swigged from his flask. Cherry pulled Ponyboy aside to talk. I wanted to go to Two bit, give him a peck on the cheek, remind him to call me, I could get around my parents, but I didn't dare. Who knew what Randy would do?  
They were leaving without even looking back. Johnny's hands were in his pockets and Two bit zipped his jacket. Ponyboy ran to catch up with them and Cherry came back.  
"Get in the car," Randy said and shoved me a little. He was a jerk when he drank, just like Bob. 


	3. ch3

Cherry and I sat quietly in the front seat between Randy and Bob. Randy was driving because he didn't tend to get as drunk as Bob. Bob was smashed. I was surprised he was still conscious.  
  
Randy was drunk. The car was weaving all over the road. Bob was mewling like a cat to Cherry, "Baby, you know I don't do this often..." She ignored him.  
  
"We're gonna kill them," Bob said to Randy. He nodded, a funny serious look on his face. I noticed how eerie their faces looked in the dash board light. Behind my eyes I saw the sharp anger on Two bit's face.  
  
"Bob, just leave them alone!" Cherry said, her voice a shade away from shrill.  
  
"No way, those dirty greasers, I don't know who the hell they think they are..."  
  
"They didn't do anything!" Now she was shrill. I felt quiet, strangely unable to say anything at all. It was uncomfortably quiet the rest of the way home.  
I was dropped off first.  
"I'll call you tomorrow," Cherry said, and she looked like a prisoner sitting there between Bob and Randy. I touched her arm softly and nodded, whispered O.K. I went up the long walk to my front door.  
  
* * *  
  
My mother's worried voice woke me up. Cultered,but worried.  
"Marcia? Marcia, Cherry's here,"  
I opened my eyes and blinked against the bright sun. I'd forgotten to pull the drapes again.  
"She's here?" This was a little strange. I glanced at the clock. Eight a.m.  
I got dressed and wondered what brought Cherry here so early. She tended to be a late sleeper on Saturday. She was sitting in the living room, ram rod straight. Her eyes were red rimmed and wet. No wonder my mother's voice was worried.  
"Marcia, let's go outside. I need to talk to you," We went out. It was sunny and windy. I noticed the way the green leaves looked shiny in the sunlight.  
"Bob's dead,"  
"What?" She just said it bald like that. The words didn't quite register.  
"He's dead, he was killed last night, at that park on the east side, the one with the fountain..." Tears coursed down her cheeks, she didn't even bother to wipe them away.  
"Killed?" This just didn't seem real. Cherry was sniffling, her voice was shuddery.  
"Yeah, that quiet kid...the dark haired kid...he...he did it..he..."  
"Johnny? Johnny killed Bob?"  
"Yeah," She hung her head and just sobbed. I put my arm around her and let her cry.  
  
* * *  
  
She left shortly after. I didn't tell my parents Bob had been killed. They'd find out soon enough. They knew his parents.  
"I'm going out," I said, not waiting to hear their reply as I went out the door. I drove to the DX where Soda worked. Maybe I could find Two bit. He was the only one I felt like seeing.  
I noticed the two boys right away. Soda, blond highlights flashing in the sun, the other kid, nondescript. I pulled in.  
"Hi, do you know where Two bit is?" Soda looked kind of shocked, white faced, like he hadn't slept.  
"Two bit? You know him?" The other kid said, suspicion in his eyes and deep in his voice. He made me nervous.  
"Yeah, I do. Do you know where he is?" He shrugged, went back to the car he was working on. I looked at Soda. He seemed not to have even heard me.  
"Soda? You know where he is?"  
"Huh? Two bit? His house, I guess," I got directions and drove off.  
The house Soda directed me to was run down, like all the other houses around here. The lawn was mostly dirt interrupted by a few hardy weeds. Broken cars sat on flat tires like hobbled creatures, chipping paint everywhere. Did I dare? I went up to the house and knocked on the screen door.  
A messy looking, overweight women with yellow blonde hair opened the door.  
"Yeah?"  
"Um, hi, is Two bit here?" I realized that this was probably his mother and that I didn't even know his real name. She wasn't fazed, just nodded and called to him, "Keith!" Oh, so that was his name.  
He wandered over to the door and looked so surprised to see me I nearly laughed. Then I remembered Bob.  
"Marcia! Hi, come in," I went in, feeling embarrassed because my house was like a mansion compared to his. The rug was worn bare in places, showing the wooden flooring.  
"I threw your number away," he said and laughed a little.  
"Why?"  
"I thought it was a fake, I guess it wasn't,"  
His mother had gone into the kitchen. I felt a fluttery nervousness deliciously twisting my stomach. He wore a blue shirt, it made his eyes look blue. I didn't want to tell him about Johnny killing Bob. He'd find out soon enough.  
"So why'd ya come by?" he said, but not mean. Playfull.  
"Oh, I don't know. I missed you," He smiled and leaned toward me, kissed me. I closed my eyes and he kissed me again. 


	4. ch4

We were still sitting on the couch when the kid from the DX station burst in the door. Two bit's mother didn't look surprised that he just came in like that. It must happen all the time.  
"Steve, what's going on, man?" Two bit said, ignoring the almost frantic look on Steve's face. I noticed it, though. And I knew what he was going to say.  
"They found a dead kid in the park, a soc," He was breathing heavily. I wondered if he ran all the way here from the gas station. Two bit's eyebrow shot up but he didn't look upset.  
"But that's not the worst part," Steve continued. His cheeks had two hectic red spots. Worry crept into Two bit's eyes.  
"Johnny killed him,"  
"What?"  
"Johnny killed him. Him and Ponyboy took off somewheres, Dallas is talking to the fuzz right now,"  
"No, shit!"  
Steve didn't stay long. I wished he hadn't come and told Two bit that.  
"Marcia, do you know about this? It was one of those super socs from last night, right?" I nodded, mumbled, "Bob,"  
He was distracted now, naturally. He looked around everywhere all at once and seemed ready to take off, all his muscles were tensed.  
"Marcia, I'm sorry, but I gotta go, I gotta see if I can help them..." I hung my head. I felt such dissappointment, I could taste it.  
He tucked a stray hair behind my ear and whispered in it, "Can I see you tonight?" I nodded.  
"Eight o'clock by the fence near the drive in?" He said. I nodded again and he left so fast I couldn't believe it.  
I drove home, thinking of Bob half the time and meeting Two bit the other.  
Randy's car was parked in my driveway. I sighed. Seeing him was all I needed.  
I walked into the heavy atmosphere of the news that Bob was dead. My parents looked upset in their own fashion. My mother looked shocked and sad. My father looked shocked and angry. Randy just looked lost, sitting on our couch with his hands folded between his knees. And I felt pity for him so sharp I could have cried.  
"Marcia," he said quietly.  
"Marcia, Bob was killed last night," my mother said calmly, softly. I nodded.  
"I know, Cherry told me,"  
My parents retired to the kitchen to give me and Randy privacy. He didn't say anything for a long while. I thought he was going to lecture me about being with Ponyboy and Johnny last night and now they've killed Bob. But he didn't. When he finally spoke all he said was, "He was my best friend," I touched his arm gently near his shoulder and he buried his face in his hands.  
Randy left and my parents came back in, eyeing me carefully.  
"The boys who killed him are eluding the police," my father said. Eluding. Because he was a lawyer my father felt like he always had to talk like that.  
"Do you think they'll catch them?" my mother said, the slightest concern evident in her quiet voice.  
"Oh, yes, they'll catch them. They are only 14 and 16, they can't hide for long,"  
The community was in an uproar. My parents and their friends talked about the "moral less youth" and the real threat of the criminal element on the east side. I almost laughed, though it wasn't funny. It was about Johnny, that scared kid who stopped Dally from attacking Cherry and who didn't even yell back at Ponyboy when he insulted him. It was hard to believe he could kill anyone.  
Near eight o'clock I headed for the drive in, the nervous butterflies crashing into each other in my stomach. I parked the car and stood by the fence, hugging myself against the chill. I waited and started to fear he wouldn't show.  
He did, rushing toward me, a distracted grin on his face.  
"Marcia, hi," he said, grazing my cheek with a kiss.  
We walked and had a cigarette, the knowledge of Johnny killing Bob heavy between us.  
"Dal's been at the police station almost all day," he said, running a hand through his hair, pitching the cigarette into the weeds.  
"Wanna go with me to Buck's and see if he's there?"  
"Yeah,"  
I heard the music long before we got there. It was a twangy country and western song punctuated by the yells of the people inside. I saw people hanging around outside, lanky cowboys smoking and swearing. I was suddenly conscious of my pressed and fancy clothes.  
18 wheelers roared by and I could smell the diesel sharp in my nose. Two bit walked quickly toward the door and I had to run a little to keep up with him.  
"Dallas here?" He said to the bleary eyed drunk who answered the door.  
"Mmmm, think so," he said and let us in. I felt the eyes of the men crawling over me. I cringed inside but stood straighter and followed Two bit toward the stairs.  
"How do you know where he is?" I said loud so he could hear me over the music.  
"He always uses this room," There were people upstairs, too, leaning against the hallway walls and drinking, smoking, making out. Two bit knocked on a door and headed in. Dallas lay on the bed dressed in jeans, one arm shielding his eyes from the light.  
"Dally," Dallas didn't move or acknowledge Two bit in any way.  
"Dally," Said more forcefully. He groaned and turned his face away.  
"Two bit, I've been talking to the fuckin' cops all day. Leave me alone,"  
"Dally, c'mon, I know you know where they are,"  
"I don't know shit,"  
"Bull shit, Dallas! You know when Johnny gets in trouble you're the first one he fucking turns to! Christ, Dallas, where the hell are they!"  
I looked from one to the other. The serious look suited Dallas but seemed out of place on Two bit's face. Dallas sat up and rubbed the blond stubble on his cheek.  
"O.K., you wanna know where they're headed?" Two bit nodded and I saw Dally look at me funny, calculating.  
"They're headed for Texas,"  
"I'm going," My eyes went round but Dally looked unsurprised and merely shrugged.  
"Now can you leave me alone?" We left. 


	5. ch5

We went to a neutral diner, one not favored by greasers or socs. I guess we felt like we should be on neutral ground.  
We shared a soda, the two straws emerging at cocky angles. The light was so harsh in this diner and I looked around at all the middle class kids. Someone put a nickel in the fancy jukebox in the corner and 'I want to hold your hand' by the Beatles started.  
Two bit looked haggard. Worry twisted his features, squinted his eyes, his lips pressed together in a harsh line.  
"I've gotta go there, I've gotta find them..." He put a hand over his eyes and leaned his head slightly forward.  
"I don't think they went to Texas," I said quietly. He looked at me with this raw expression. He was reaching the end of a fraying rope.  
"What? But Dal said..." I closed my eyes for a moment longer than a blink.  
"Two bit, think about it. Would he tell you where they are going in front of me?"  
He thought, I could see the realization coming into his eyes like dawn.  
"Aw shit, you're right," The way he looked right then reminded me of how Randy had looked this afternoon, lost. I touched his arm and rubbed it, told him I was sorry.  
"Damn that Dallas, he knows where they are, why won't he fucking tell me?"  
I didn't answer, didn't know what to answer. I thought Dallas was right not telling anyone. Wherever they were, they'd be safer if no one knew.  
"Let's get outta here," He said, throwing some money on the table for the soda.  
I let him drive my car and we flew down the road, the dark trees flying by in a blur. I was comforted, as I could be, by the speed. Two bit looked sharply handsome in the dashboard glow, the planes of his face in stark light and shadow. I felt out of sync about this whole thing. Cherry was a mess, she'd been in love with Bob. I didn't care for Bob, he was a jerk and brought his death upon himself. I knew Johnny was the kid they'd almost killed that day, knew it. You reap what you sow. And it was tearing Two bit up that Ponyboy and Johnny were in such serious trouble, going to jail for the rest of your life trouble. When the police find them Johnny might even get the electric chair. Bob's family had an awful lot of money and several good lawyers, the best in Tulsa. I knew that Johnny was dirt poor and his family couldn't afford a lawyer, so he'd get a court appointed, inexperienced green lawyer who would let the state kill him. These things were givens. But I hardly knew Ponyboy and Johnny and didn't feel that upset about it.  
"Let's get a drink," He said, starring at the road, a cigarette dangling from his lips. This had been a difficult day. I thought we both needed to unwind.  
"Yeah, sure," I said, looking at the point where the headlights appeared to converge. Two bit drove to a bar that wasn't too careful about carding. It was easy, there were lots of them.  
I had a rum and coke, it was nice because it was kind of sweet but not too sweet and not heavy like milk based drinks. Two bit had a beer.  
The alcohol didn't take long to loosen us up, to smooth away the rough edges of this rough day. I liked Two bit's eyes, the color of the ocean on a cloudy day.  
"I'm sorry," he said, glancing from his beer glass to my face, "I can't stop worrying," I nodded, I understood. I took a long swallow of my rum and coke and finished it, the melting ice clinking in the glass. I motioned the waitress over and ordered another one.  
"It's just, it's hard to explain, we have to protect Johnny, he's..." He shook his head, at a loss as to how to explain it. I lit a cigarette and waited anxiously for my drink to arrive.  
"Well, there's nothing you can do right now," I said gently. He nodded glumly and downed his beer, lit a cigarette of his own.  
"Dallas knows where they are, he's probably helped them in some way. You've just got to trust that they'll be all right," Two bit looked slightly comforted by this and smiled a little smile.  
"You dig o.k.," he said, and I heard admiration in his voice. I smiled ,too. The edges of the room had grown hazy with the alcohol, only Two bit was sharp. We leaned over the table and kissed like we were alone. I put my hand on the back of his neck and could taste the beer he drank and the cigarettes.  
"Hey, you wanna go?" he said, and I nodded. I followed him out to the car.  
He drove again, far less effected by his one beer than I was by my drinks. The road slipped by and I didn't ask where we were going, I didn't care. I could see him trying to let it go for now, could see him trying to will the worry away.  
The car slipped back into town and the neighborhoods grew progressively worse, run down, the streets became narrower, the houses closer together until they were separated by a sliver of lawn, the east side. We pulled up to his house.  
I must have looked apprehensive because Two bit reassured me, "It's o.k.," he said, "my mom isn't home," We went into the dark house, lit only by the flickering glow of the T.V. screen, blaring away for no one. I followed him down a short hallway to his room. He turned on a tiny lamp and I saw sports pendants taped crookedly to the walls, cracks and lines in the paint running across the walls like roads on a map, the thin cotton spread that covered his bed.  
I sat on the bed, it was old and too soft. He sat next to me.  
"Oh, Marcia, you're so pretty," He said softly and leaned toward me and I leaned back so that I was lying down with him over me. We kissed again and I closed my eyes, put my arms around his neck and then on his biceps, the muscles were hard because he was holding himself up over me.  
"Marcia," he said in a breathless way that made my heart start beating faster and he fumbled with the buttons of my blouse. I didn't really feel like I was cheating on Randy. Hadn't he cheated on me? I thought he had.  
He got the buttons undone and I wished that the lamp was turned off, but I kind of liked it on. 


	6. ch6

Sunday morning. I went to church with my parents. The pastor spoke of the "tragedy our town recently experienced."  
I looked at the sun coming through the stained glass windows, felt the hardness of the bench, and thought about Bob.  
If he'd just left those kids alone he'd be fine. If he hadn't drank like he did, if Cherry never left him at the movies that night, if I'd never asked Pony and Johnny to sit up with us...but that way madness lies.  
So I thought of Twobit instead, how kissing him was so different from kissing Randy. I thought I might break it off with Randy.  
Randy showed up at my house.  
"Tell him I'm not home," I said to my parents.  
"Marcia, we will not," my mother said, speaking for herself and my father as she tended to. I sighed. I knew they wouldn't.  
"Let's talk outside," Randy said, and by the look in his eyes I knew it was over but the shouting.  
Outside again, I was coming to dread these outside talks, the sun bright on the leaves, the cool wind. I looked at him and felt mad and bad for him at once, it made me dizzy.  
"Who were you with last night?" His voice was hard, his eyes were hard.  
"Look, I don't think we should discuss it"  
"Well I think we should! Who were you with last night?" His voice was louder and his tone frightened me. I flinched away from him.  
"Fine! Don't answer! I know who you were with, that greaser at the movies!"  
"So what? I can see who I want to see! You...stop trying to control me...just..." I stood there, out of words. It was sad to me. I'd liked him once, liked him so much. But lately it had seemed he just followed Bob around and participated in every bad idea, never thinking for himself. I took a deep breath.  
"Randy, I don't think we should see each other anymore," He stared at me, just stared, dead eye gaze.  
"I know who he is. He hangs around with Dallas Winston. Hoodlum greaser scum," He turned and left but I heard him say, "I'll get him," under his breath. And I thought he probably would.  
I was worried but not terribly so. Seeing Twobit smash the bottle and whip out that switchblade all in one motion I knew he could take care of himself.  
I went in, feeling a headache rhythmically pounding behind my eyes. I was getting so sick of these boys, fighting and fighting for what? Because we had money and the kids from the east side didn't? It was stupid.  
"Marcia? Where are you going?" My mother, her calm voice making me want to scream.  
"I'm going to my room," And I did. I layed down on my bed and tried to stop thinking about the whole stupid thing. I slept for awhile.  
Cherry woke me up. The light had changed. It was late afternoon. I felt awful, like I couldn't wake up. I glared at her without meaning to.  
"Randy is pissed," I sighed, rubbed my eyes.  
"I know,"  
"You hooked up with Twobit?"  
"Yeah," Defiant. She shrugged, looked down. She couldn't say anything because she'd jump Dallas' bones given half a chance. I knew she was half in love with him by the time Johnny chased him off Friday night.  
"Anyway," she said, moving her head in that way that made her hair sway and then fall behind her shoulders, "it's warfare all over the city. And their hunting for Twobit,"  
"Yeah, I know," She looked funny then, she had a look on her face I wasn't used to seeing.  
"I feel bad, real bad, like it's, this whole thing is my fault," She looked down, green eyes covered with the dark lashes. I thought about it. It was kinda her fault. But more Bob's.  
"I think I owe Ponyboy something,"  
"Owe him what? And he's gone, he's hiding somewhere," I looked at her sharply.  
"Yeah, I know. But he's such a sweet kid, I mean I connected with him and now he's in such a mess because of me. I owe him some help,"  
"What are you talking about? How do you think you can help him?"  
"Randy said their having a huge rumble, the socs against the greasers, I could maybe, spy for them or something," She was out of her mind.  
"Spy for them? Cherry, Ponyboy and Johnny are not even here, they're not going to be in any rumble,"  
"I know," she looked up at me with frustration, "but I can help his friends, and that would be like helping him. "  
I just looked at her, twiddled with my bedspread.  
"They can't hide forever, you know? I could even testify in court that Bob and his friends were drunk, they were looking for a fight and that Johnny fought back in self defense."  
"Yeah," I shrugged. Her lip quivered and she started to cry a little, thick tears clinging to her lashes, "I could do that, help Johnny even though I'm so angry with him..." She covered her face and shook with silent sobs. I hugged her and rocked her and let her cry. 


	7. ch7

Cherry and I went to Rusty's for a soda, but mostly to just hang out away from our parents. Her eyes were all red and puffy from crying and I felt real bad. Bob was a jerk and I wasn't too sorry he was gone but I knew Cherry had loved him.  
I played a little game I liked with the straw wrapper. I push it down off the straw so it is all folded up like an accordian and then put a drop of soda on it. It twists and expands like a big white worm. Cherry looked at me like I was juvenile. I smiled sheepishly.  
"Bob's mother had a nervous break down," Cherry said quietly, twirling the ice in her glass with the straw. I nodded. It made sense. Her son was knifed down in the park on the sleazy side of town. She probably didn't believe he had it coming, like most mothers she was blind to the faults of her child. And she didn't have any other children to be strong for, Bob was her only one. I wondered what my parents would do if I was killed suddenly, here one day and then gone. Probably have nervous breakdowns, too.  
"When's the funeral?" I blurted out and it sounded harsh somehow. Cherry shook her head.  
"I don't know..." It was getting dark, the light sort of draining from the sky, the way it does in the fall. I wondered how Ponyboy and Johnny were doing, if they were scared where they were, wherever Dallas had hid them.  
The door opened and Randy walked in, scanning the booths, he saw us and came over. Cherry said hello politely. I said nothing, barely looked at him, just saw his shirt from the corner of my eye.  
"What happened to you?" Cherry said, but with less than her usual energy. I glanced up at him. He was cut and starting to bruise.  
"I look better than the other guy, believe me," He said this and looked right at me.  
"Your new little boyfriend isn't doing too hot," he said. I felt a helpless worry I wasn't used to. Two bit could take care of himself but I knew how Randy and his friends ganged up on one person.  
Randy was leaving. Cherry barely noticed.  
"It never stops, does it?" she said tiredly. I felt edgy and worried, thinking of how they had beaten up Johnny for no reason. How bad would it be with a reason, I wondered. And I was the reason.  
I tapped my nails on the table, a quick staccato rhythm.  
"We should go see if he's o.k.," I said carefully. Cherry looked at me with her new dull look.  
"Who?"  
"Two bit. You heard Randy say he just beat him up, right?" Cherry didn't look so good, sort of blank. I didn't like it.  
"We don't know where he is,"  
"I know where he lives. He's probably not far from there," Cherry nodded and looked up at me.  
We took her sting ray and drove toward the east side. I saw the weird red glow beyond the smog, and the chain link fences depressed me. We passed the park, still and eerie as it was with Bob's ghost. In the vacant lot near Two bit's house we saw a bunch of people hanging out, and even in the dim light I could make out Dallas Winston. I nudged her.  
"Look, it's Dallas," She slowed the car and peered over at the little knots of people.  
"I should go and talk to him," she said, parking the car along the side of the road. Broken glass littered around picked up the last of the light.  
"What? Are you crazy? You can't go talk to him," She was turning off the car lights and the radio in her methodical way and glanced up at me.  
"Of course I can. I want to tell him that I'm going to help them," We got out of the car and I felt the nip in the air, saw the wind pick up the ends of Cherry's hair and the edge of her skirt.  
"All right. You do that. I'm going to Two bit's house," I headed off but looked back and watched her. She looked small and determined walking toward the boys.  
I was struck again by the poverty in this part of town, the small run down houses. Most of them I could look right into, there were no curtains. I saw the glow of black and white t.v.'s, heard yelling from one house, the high pitched shrieks of a woman and the lower tones of a man, heard something crash from inside the house and hurried on.  
When I got to Two bit's house no one was home, it was dark and silent. I knocked anyway in the hope that he was there in the dark, but only silence answered me. Maybe he was at that lot with Dallas. I headed back.  
I was a little worried about Cherry. That Dallas was no one to mess with, and considering how he behaved the other night who knew what he'd do. And I hugged myself in the chill and felt out of place on the slum side of town, maybe in danger I didn't even know about.  
I saw someone coming toward me but they were far enough away so that their features were indistinct. It was one of those hoods and I hugged myself tighter and two words flashed into my mind at the same time, mugged and raped.  
"Marcia?" I jumped even though the voice was familiar and then he stepped under the street light.  
"Two bit!" He had a split lip and some blood under his nose, other than that he looked fine.  
"Cherry said you'd headed to my house," He sounded fine and I breathed easier. I felt like I'd been holding my breath ever since Randy showed up at Rusty's.  
"Are you o.k.?" I stepped toward him and touched his arm lightly.  
"Yeah, Dal and Darry showed up in the nick of time," He smiled ruefully and felt his swollen lip. I kissed his cheek and then his lips. He closed his eyes and I tasted the blood from his lip on my own. 


	8. ch8

I woke up late Monday morning and covered my head with the pillow. I forgot to pull the drapes again.  
"Marcia!" My mother's horrible, 'wake up now' tone. I didn't want to go to school, though I did look forward to seeing Two bit.  
"Breakfast?" My mother pushes breakfast on me though I usually just have a cup of coffee. What should she care if I eat it? The maid cooks it anyway.  
In the car I start thinking, I start thinking that my associating with Two bit might not go over so well. Sure it was fun to kind of bug Randy and Cherry but everyone? That's the one hand. On the other it makes it forbidden, and at that thought I get a funny twinge of pleasure deep in my stomach.  
I pull into the parking lot and glance around for Cherry's little sting ray. I don't see it. I didn't really expect to. She's mourning.  
I go into school, head held high. I realize I don't know where Two bit hangs out at school, I'd never noticed him at school really. But the greasers, when they even go to school at all, tend to hang out in a few spots. The smoking yard by the football field, under the bleachers, and the far end of the parking lot. Us socs have the hallways, the smoking room in the school and the break room by the counselor's office, and the part of the parking lot near the school.  
I'm surrounded almost the moment I walk into the school. Word doesn't take long to get around. Bob was a very popular guy, very good looking, and a charming bastard, too.  
They all talk at me at once, I can't make out anything. I just catch snatches here and there.  
"Marcia, what happened..."  
"You were at the movie with the..."  
"Did you see..."  
"Marcia, did..."  
I wanted to cover my ears and hum. But I just stood there and let them bombard me.  
"Was he drunk? Was Bob drunk?" The first complete sentence I could make out in the din. A blonde with scooped up hair and a flair skirt said it.  
"Drunk? Of course. When wasn't he?" I was still trying to get to my locker. Maybe famous people feel this way. They must hate it.  
"You were at that movie with the kid who killed Bob?" Another girl said this, she had mousy hair and fancy clothes. I nodded at her, pushing through people to get to my stupid locker.  
"What was he like? Did he say he was gonna kill him?" she pressed me, blocking my way to my locker.  
"He was, I don't know, quiet. Of course he didn't say he was gonna kill him," I shoved her aside, as gently as I could, and started twisting the lock of the locker.  
I gathered my books and went to my homeroom, where everyone stared at me and whispered behind their hands, but I could make it out. 'She was there that night, she sat with the murderers at the movie..." and on like that.  
I couldn't pay attention in class, I could only pay attention to the sunlight patterns on the polished floors of the classrooms, I could only hear the soothing, sleepy tones of the teachers' voices but couldn't make out the words.  
At lunchtime I wanted to go home, I wanted to search the greasers' hang outs for Two bit, I wanted to go sit in my car and ignore everything. I went to the cafeteria and sat with my usual group of acquintances. They grilled me about Friday night in high, girlish tones.  
"Oh my God, Marcia! What happened that night?" I closed my eyes and spoke, "I really don't feel like talking about it," They wouldn't quit, though.  
"Ponyboy was in my english class. I never thought he'd be involved in something like that! He's so smart, and quiet, so polite..."  
"Yeah, for one of those dirty greasers, I guess he was polite..."  
"It wasn't Ponyboy who killed Bob, though. No. It was that other kid, the kid with the black hair, what's his name?"  
"Johnny Cade, right? Yeah, that kid is so quiet, wouldn't say boo to a ghost..."  
"It never would of happened if Cherry hadn't ditched Bob at the movies..." My eyes were still closed. How did they know all this?  
"Marcia?" They gasped collectively and I opened my eyes, knowing already who I would see. Two bit Mathews.  
"Uh, hi," I felt weird, felt so happy to see him but also acutely aware of the dissapproving eyes of my girlfriends. Their mouths were little o's.  
"My car is working, you wanna go for a drive?" The girls at the table stared at me in horror and I had to suppress a giggle. He looked tough with the cuts from his fight with Randy and the clothes he wore, like a hood. His hair was long enough to touch the collar of his shirt. I couldn't resist him.  
"O.K." I said, getting up, feeling the eyes of the girls on me. I didn't think I'd be coming back to school.  
The day was bright and cool, perfect weather for a sweater. Two bit lit up a cigarette and handed it to me. I took a few puffs and felt the nicotine buzz, I squinted up at the sun, heard the click click of our shoes on the asphalt.  
"It's all over school, huh?" he said, pitching his cigarette toward an orange mustang. It landed on the hood. I didn't think it was an accident.  
"Yeah, they won't leave me alone," I said, and pitched my own cigarette. We reached his car and by the looks of it it was a wonder it could even run. I got in and felt the heat trapped in the car, felt the stinging heat from the leather seat. Through the warped window the parking lot and the school beyond looked hazy, rippled, distorted. Two bit started up the car and flipped the radio on. A Rolling Stones' song came on. I liked the funky, devilish rhythm of those songs. Two bit leaned over and kissed my neck softly, then my cheek, then my lips. I closed my eyes and noticed the scent of his cologne, felt the softness of the old leather jacket he wore.  
"Where do you want to go?" he said, his voice soft and deep.  
"I don't care," I said. 


	9. ch9

The road turned from tar to red dirt, the dust billowing up by the open windows, getting into my hair.  
I wasn't worried about skipping school. Lots of Bob's friends weren't there, and since I ran in his circle I figured I was safe, they wouldn't call my parents.  
Two bit drove with one hand loosely on the wide steering wheel, a cigarette in the other hand, a beer nestled against his crotch.  
We drove by horse pastures and from the corner of my eye I saw them flipping their tails. I took a swig of Two bit's beer and he smiled slow when I reached for it.  
Despite the warm fall day and the pungent smell of the horses, reminding me of when I was a kid at rodeos, worries crept in. I was worried about Cherry. I was worried about Two bit's friends only because of the effect they were having on him. And I was worried about skipping school, I never skipped. Never sipped beer in a hoodlum's car in the middle of the afternoon.  
"Would your parents mind if they knew you were with me?" he said suddenly, a joking light in his eyes. But I thought there was something serious beneath the joke.  
They would mind. Not just because he was friends with Johnny and Ponyboy but because, well, he was poor. Poor people, in my parent's eyes, were for giving charity to and creating programs for but not to see socially. No.  
"I don't know..." He raised one eyebrow. He knew I was lying. I knew he knew. So why did I lie?  
And how did his parents feel about me? Probably that I was out of his league, that I was either toying with him or slumming. And the thing was, I wasn't sure they weren't right.  
The sky was a clear uniform blue, unbroken by wisps of clouds, and I stared up at it and had a sudden panoramic vision of my future. I'd marry some business major dolt from a good family, and I could see him. Button up dress shirts and drab ties, overly polite to my parents despite getting sloppy drunk on the weekends in front of T.V. football games. Or maybe he'd have fine scotch every night in the cut crystal glasses my parents gave us as a wedding gift. And kids, dull little kids that look like me but act like him, dressed up in expensive kiddie clothes from the retail shops. And what would I do? What my mother does? Wear pearls and heels and sip chardonnay while the maid cleans up my messes? Plan dinner parties and cocktail parties, inviting all the right people to further my husband's career?  
Right now, in this moment, I didn't want that. Two bit looked so good to me, so alive somehow, in a way these business majors from wealthy families could never be.  
His hair looked darker with the grease slicking it back and today his eyes looked gray, still reminding me of the ocean on a cloudy day and I wanted to feel the hardness of his muscles and taste his lips. I wanted to avoid my cellophane wrapped future and continue to feel as alive as I did right now. 


	10. ch10

He crumbled the beer in his fist and tossed it out the window. I felt breathless, deliciously dizzy, savagely happy that my parents wouldn't approve, didn't approve. I was tired of their approval.  
He leaned toward me with more lust and purpose than Randy ever had and I felt that twisting of my stomach, that feeling like you're suddenly dropped from the top of a roller coaster, the car screaming beneath you on the rails.  
And he kissed me, hard. His lips pressed against mine, his tongue in my mouth. I tasted the beer we both drank and I felt his hand slide down my body.  
There was no one around. No houses, no nothing. A little red dirt road out in the middle of nowhere.  
He was kissing me and I was up against the door.  
"Let's go in the back," he said, his voice thick, eyes half closed.  
"No," I said, a whisper. But I didn't mean no. I didn't mean yes, either.  
"C'mon," he said, the soft insistence in his voice, in the way he kissed me before I could answer.  
"C'mon," he said again, and it was easy to give up, give in, surrender to what he wanted because I wanted it, too.  
"O.K." I said.  
In the backseat, roomier, the sunshine against the dusty windows like a thing I could touch, all faded and yellow and hot.  
"Two bit," I said his name in a tiny breathless voice in between the kisses. His hand was under my long skirt and I could feel it going up and up.  
"Maybe..." I said, not sure of what would follow maybe. Maybe we should stop? But it was easier not to say anything, and I glanced out at the deserted field, dry grass rustling in the hint of wind.  
"Maybe?" he echoed playfully, somehow getting his jeans and my skirt off at the same time. Cautions flew up against my skull like black birds, each squawking a worry in a single word: pregnancy! Reputation! Parents! Future!  
I closed my eyes, feeling the heat of the sun through the windows, feeling my panties being pulled gently off, feeling my breath coming in quick gasps, feeling my heart race. I forgot the worries in the burst of pleasure.  
When it was done we sat on the hood of the car and smoked, like people in the trashy romance novels I couldn't help reading.  
"Uh, Marcia," he said, and I heard a strange hesitancy in his voice, "um, I have a girlfriend, you know," I raised my eyebrows, flicked my cigarette away.  
"Who?" But why was I even asking? It's not like we were committed to each other.  
"Cathy," I knew the girl. A blond with a bob hair cut and lots of make up. I nodded, trying to look like I didn't care, trying to look like the bored aloof soc that I was, or could be.  
I lit another cigarette just for something else to do, to concentrate on.  
"So, any word on Ponyboy and Johnny?" I said, maybe just to bring up the sore subject. Cathy. Little blond air head with her two tons of baby blue eyeshadow and chipped pink nail polish.  
He looked so sad so suddenly that I was sorry I'd asked. He shook his head slowly back and forth, looking out into the middle distance.  
"Look, I'm sure they're fine," I said, though I was sure of no such thing. And if they were fine now they probably wouldn't be for long. It had the feel of a play, like we were waiting for the final act.  
It wasn't time for school to let out and neither of us wanted to go back. So we drove and I watched the sky slide by through the window. Through the dust it looked like a t.v. sky, or at least one that had nothing to do with me.  
  
I wanted to see Cherry, wanted to check on her and make sure she's o.k. I knew how she felt about Bob, I didn't know why, but I knew how she felt. I never got her attraction for that type of guy, someone who could be so cruel just because they could be. Like Dallas, Dallas was like that.  
Pregnancy worries tried to creep in, it only took the one time. I imagined the baby, fresh and pink, sweet little fist wrapped around my finger. Or squawling baby, pureed baby food smeared all over everything, forced into a shot gun wedding, Two bit out drinking, two timing me with Cathy or some other blue eyed floozy.  
Sky, trees, and houses traded places through the window and the radio played a staticky top 40. There'd be no baby. I knew that. My parents would get me a hush hush abortion. They'd rip that baby right out of me.  
I tapped my nails on the glass, tried to make out the tune through the static, tried to smother the anger I felt because of Cathy. Cathy. God.  
"I want to see Cherry. Drop me off there," I knew I sounded like a bitch, like a stuck up snooty bitch, but I didn't care.  
He nodded, sheepish. Had I told him I broke up with Randy? Well, I didn't do it for him. We edged back into town and he headed for the west side.  
Cherry's house. I could almost feel the sadness coming off of it in waves. He came to a slow stop.  
"Marcia," he said, but nothing followed. I looked at him coolly.  
"I've got to go," I said, and left without another word. 


	11. ch11

Hadn't seen him in several days, didn't know why he was in my head, but he was.

Two bit. For once I'd been happy, not Cherry Valence's mousy little friend, for once I was just me.

But his little girlfriend Cathy was under my skin, as irritating as a sliver. I supposed, since she was a greaser girl, I supposed it made sense. But then why didn't it make sense to me?

It was all useless anyway. I did what I tended to do when the social circle got a bit confusing. I slept in. Covered my head with my thick down comforter as protection from the sun, and burrowed in my cocoon.

"Marcia?" My mother at the edge of my room, using a tone of disgust and pity I last heard from her when she informed me my cat had been run down in the road.

I peeked at her. There she stood, twirling a strand of pearls around one finger as she looked at me, the lines of her face stern, eyes anxious.

I retreated again under the covers. I didn't think I had the stomach to deal with her this morning. I groaned.

"Marcia, you have a…visitor,"

I noticed the slight pause before the word visitor as though she was groping for a painless word.

"Visitor?"

She cleared her throat, twisted the pearls to the breaking point.

"Yes, ah, a young man,"

And I knew, of course, the only young man capable of producing such a display of emotions on my mother's face.

"Okay,"

Dressed, I came downstairs to find Two bit in my kitchen, dusty jeans, sleeveless black tee shirt, shit kicker steel toed boots, black handled switchblade peeking from his back pocket, rolled up newspaper in his hand. His hair gleamed. My parents tried unsuccessfully to hide their shock at having such a hoodlum calling upon their daughter.

"Marcia," he said, and grinned, and seemed happier than he had all this week.

We went for a walk and I smiled at my parents' reaction. Smiled at the butterflies that bounced off each other in my stomach.

"Why are you happy?" I said, watching him bounce around, grab my hand, kiss my cheek.

"They're back," he said.

"They? Ponyboy and Johnny, they?"

"Yep,"

I blinked, honestly amazed.

"Are they, I mean, did the cops find them? Are they in jail?"

"No, they're in the hospital," he said.

"The hospital? Why? What happened?"

He certainly seemed happy but all I could think was that the cops shot them.

"Well, Ponyboy is home. Dally and Johnny are in the hospital,"

"Why? What happened?"

He handed me the paper, beaming. I took it cautiously. 'Juvenile Delinquents Turn Heroes', it said. And I stood there in the bright mid morning sun and read, the murder I knew about. Ponyboy living with his brothers because his parents died, I might have known that. And I read about the church, the fire, the kids.

"Two bit, it says Johnny is in critical condition,"

"He'll be fine," he said, and I was staggered a bit by his denial.

"He…Two bit, it says he's paralyzed with third degree burns," This did not sound fine to me.

"He'll be fine," he repeated, a giddy edge to his words, "he has to be, cause we couldn't get along without him,"

I stared at him, bit my lip. I got the impression from this article that Johnny probably was going to die.

"Besides, they're back, and everything is going to be okay now,"


End file.
